As I am sure you have figured out by now, Scott is from Nebraska. And so are his parents. And so are their parents. And probably so are thiers. I don't know. SO I will start out right now with a big fat disclaimer... I
do not profess to be an "expert". They know who they are...:) It's really for those people and our girls, who will never see it, that I write this. All I know is what I know.When Scott took me to Nebraska for the first time, we drove by the farm. Slowly. And I looked at that place and really was listening with great intent about all the games of hide and seek that Starman had played, but what I was really thinking about... was life on the farm.
Back in the day, outside Petersburg, Nebraska.
FOURTEEN crazy kids running all over place... and noise, lots of noise, I'm sure. Thanking God for health, a good garden crop and the windbreak. I can only speculate but I am sure the food was good, the fights were many and the work was hard. I know for a fact the love was strong.
Grandma and Grandpa moved to town years ago and I believe renters came and went until it just sat empty, except for the friendly ghosts of memories past. Grandpa passed and Grandma moved to Omaha to be closer to the family. A couple months ago I got a mass email to the fam (you can imagine the size of that list!) Scott's cousin, Gloria, had an update on the farm. It was coming down. The time had come. Everyone was invited to come celebrate life on the farm.
It must have been heartwrenching... my mother-in-law was there with as many of the siblings that could make it, and grandkids and great-grandkids. No doubt Farkle was there too, blue yummy in hand. And down it came. A big bonfire followed and this is what was left.
It all caused me to take pause and reflect on the value we put on physical places. Take this little cracker box on Settlers Drive, that is hardly worth what we owe thanks to the mortgage crises and foreclosure mess. But that's just on paper. What it means to us, and will long after we have said good-bye to it, is immeasurable and we will always have that. Just as the Lordemann's will always have "the farm". A deed of the heart.
And as a footnote and testament to the resiliency and innovation of this great country... guess what they might use the land for?
A wind farm. Our new energy economy will be fueled by the laughter of children, the toil of hard-working hands and thoughts of choke cherry jelly...floating on the breeeze.
